Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between.

Anna asks:

Our neighbor has asked us to start managing their property as a vacation rental. It’s the same layout as our property, with the same amenities. What do you recommend as a marketing strategy to list both properties, and perhaps book them for one stay for larger groups?

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Hello, everyone.

Welcome back for the great episode.

My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I am Annette grant.

And together we are--

Thanks for Visiting.

And this is the--

Hosting Hotline.

And today we have Alonna with a parent-child listing question.

Hey, Annette and Sarah.

This is Alonna Diamond from Blue Sky Villa.

As you know, I'm your biggest fan.

So we are about to launch our first rental property right near Delray Beach,

Florida, technically in Boyden Beach.

And our next door neighbor who has the exact same layout and amenities as we do

is thinking about Airbnb-ing his property too, and would like me to manage it.

So I know that I could set up a parent-child listing and

market it as a six-bedroom.

Each of our houses have three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

But I'm wondering what you think about that as a marketing strategy.

I looked up on my pricing software and it looks like there's only two

other comps that have six bedrooms.

One of them is right on the Intercoastal, so it's in a better location.

But I'm wondering what you think about as marketing the two homes as

six bedrooms for the larger groups coming in and without many comps.

How do I price myself for that?

Thanks.

A solid question.

And Alonna joined us at one of our Q&As and I

wish we had the exact quote.

Alonna, maybe you can leave a review on our podcast.

I think you already have though.

She said she was inhaling our podcast like pizza, or I forget

how-- she said something like it was nourishing her or she was binging

it more than she binges pizza.

Something about pizza.

And I love pizza.

And I loved everything that said about that.

So you can compare us to food in any way, shape, or form.

This is interesting though.

It sounds like a great opportunity for you, number one.

Congrats on that, and let's get into it, Sarah.

First of all, if you are new to the podcast or new to Annette and

myself or new to parent-child listing, we do have content around that.

You could look at podcast episode number 232, and we'll also link our

YouTube video that's different from the podcast episode on this content as well.

So we're not going to go too far into all the different things that

would go into making this a success.

But in theory, all it is is you are taking one listing and you are either breaking

it down into maybe a smaller listing.

So if you have a large home, you sell it as a four-bed, two bath, or

you could sell it as a two-bed, one bath, and then you can do lots of

different creative things with that.

And it's okay to do this because you are offering different

products to potential guests.

And what you do is you connect the calendars on it.

So if it books as one, it would automatically block it down

your calendar as the other one.

This is interesting because Alonna is taking-- I'm assuming they're attached.

Are they town homes, do you think, Annette?

Yes.

I'm thinking they're connected.

ADMARKER

Let's make some assumptions here, since we don't have all the details.

But what Alonna wants to do, she wants to take two town homes, it

sounds like, and offer them as one.

Annette, you brought up a good point of making sure the whole

lock situation irons out.

What you could do, Alonna, if you have a software like Point Central

or I don't use remote lock, but that might work too, where you can

create the same code for both homes.

And you'll just have to make sure you're extremely clear with the

guests that it isn't adjoining, like, it's not like an adjoining room at a

hotel where you could have a pass through.

It sounds like, I'm sure you don't share any doors with your neighbor,

um, but maybe you're super close.

But that is one thing you're just going to have to be really clear on.

However, I could see this being super desirable for people to be next door.

Let's say it's two families traveling together, or the same

family, but it's like the parents and the kids or the in-laws.

It would just be really nice, I think, for everyone to have their own space.

I think the key for you is just, you're going to have to be very

clear in the parent listing that they're not connected at all.

As far as pricing goes, and you not having any competitors,

that could be a good thing.

And you are going to have to do some AB testing.

What you can do is keep your eye on that listing that includes both town homes.

And whether you're using an OTA or a property management software, you could

keep your eye on those click rates.

See how potential guests are viewing this space.

Are they bouncing off of it very quickly?

Are you getting inquiries?

And then you can assess that.

Maybe the pricing's too high if they're looking and not booking.

You can also reach out to guests and ask them, hey, you reached out.

You didn't end up booking with us.

There's nothing wrong with asking a guest why they chose something

different and just making sure that you make notes, copious notes.

It sounds like you have a pricing software, which most of them have a

place for you to leave notes about different things that you're testing.

And so you make those notes and understand why you've either

lowered it or made it higher.

And you want to be strategic too.

Annette, you brought up a good point of Alonna maybe even creating

some competition for herself.

That may or may not be the case, depending on seasonality, and

maybe this is just available on the weekends versus during the weekdays.

It's just the two town homes.

Maybe she makes the two listings so juicy that people do book the

whole thing and makes it worth your while to do it that way.

But any other thoughts on that front, Annette?

Yeah.

Back to the Intercoastal property, if you said that one is more desirable,

then maybe that is your hedge.

Mm-hmm.

That's your bet.

You had your bets there of like, maybe I can have really competitive pricing.

It might not be the Intercoastal, but you could service the guests

that still want to be near the beach and beat them out on the price.

And then I guess I have lots of other for you too, Alonna, of

your neighbor, what are his goals?

If you've already figured all that, is it only dependent on you being

able to list it with your property?

You want to iron out some of their details there, but we've had great success with

getting creative with property packaging.

We'll call it parent-child listing, but clarity and tracking.

Alonna, if this is your first one, I would just say

slow and steady wins the race.

I would most likely get your listing up and running, get that 30, 60, 90

days under your belt first before bringing on the next pro-- just

depending again, how aggressive you are, I don't know how much time you

have, there's a lot of variables.

But I want to make sure that you're really taking care of your first property

and getting it off on a good foot.

If you want us to answer your question here on the show, you

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If it's short-term rental, business related in any way, shape, or form,

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ahead and answer it on the show.

But with that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I am Annette Grant, and together we are--

Thanks for Visiting.